About

Lovecraft: The Blasphemously Large First Issue

$54,467

pledged of $10,000 goal

1,816

backers

Lovecraft Like You've Never Seen Him Before

Lovecraft cover by Lewis LaRosa

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THANK YOU BACKERS!

Thank you to all our backers for supporting our Kickstarter project. We exceeded our funding goal by more than 540% and hit all of our stretch goals, which means we’re going to be able to make an AWESOME comic for you!

Going forward we’ll post our progress on Lovecraft: The Blasphemously Large First Issue to the Updates section of this page. You can also follow Craig on Twitter to find out more about the future of Lovecraft.

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A Kickstarter Staff Pick!

Lovecraft is a dirty, gritty story about magick, monsters and the occult. It takes place in a modern-day world where H.P. Lovecraft the writer never existed but where all the horrors he wrote about are real. In this story, the man named Lovecraft is the world's foremost magician and alchemist who maintains a secret library of forbidden knowledge which includes books like the Necronomicon.

Lovecraft is a classic Byronic antihero: “Mad, bad, and dangerous to know.” He functions as the semi-reluctant guardian of mankind, one of the few who can traffic with occult forces without becoming (totally) corrupted by them. In his world, magicians are a secret culture within the culture who vie for power and knowledge, leading to feuds and wars that can unleash unspeakable terrors. When they do, Lovecraft is the guy who cleans things up.

(Note to International Backers: When you select a reward you will be shown shipping costs to your country.)

FINAL STRETCH GOAL: ADDING ISSUE 2!

Our FINAL STRETCH GOAL is something you've all been asking us for: Issue 2! If we can get to $50,000, EVERY tier at the Digital Insanity level and above will get an exclusive black & white digital Issue 2 of Lovecraft that will only be available to backers of this project. (Expected delivery of issue 2 is April 2015)

If you're already a backer, you can help us reach the new goal by tweeting about the project and posting it to Facebook. And if you were thinking of upgrading to a higher reward tier, now is the best time to do it.

Thanks to hitting stretch previous goals, everyone in the Digital Insanity tier or higher will already be getting a bigger version of the comic that includes more content and enhanced digital rewards. And everyone who backed any print tier will get the extra digital rewards plus a bigger print issue, an exclusive tentacle sticker, signed and numbered bookplates and a higher quality book.

Reminder: The $20,000 reward will be added to the digital version of the comic. The $22,500, $25,000, $30,000 and $37,000 levels will be added to all versions of the comic (print and digital). The Tentacle Sticker and $40,000 level will be included with all print comic tiers. The $50,000 reward will be added to everyone in the Digital Madness tier or higher.

A sample page from Lovecraft

A sample page from Lovecraft

The Awesome Stuff You'll Get

Lovecraft: The Blasphemously Large First Issue is going to be an oversized 64-page (increased since we hit our stretch goals!) limited edition comic. That's TWICE the size of a typical comic, and so big Cthulhu is going to need all his tentacles to hold it! It's going to include:

A 32-page main story written by Craig Engler with art by Daniel Govar and colors by Mat Lopes

Six behind-the-scenes pages of character sketches and concept art from Dan

Cover art by Lewis LaRosa, who's worked on tons of Valiant covers including Shadowman, Bloodshot and Archer & Armstrong

Other rewards include the original script, more concept art, commissions, and portfolio reviews

A page torn from the Necronomicon itself and mailed to you (at your own risk)

A limited-edition green foil variant cover ONLY available for this Kickstarter

EXTRA STUFF! Thanks to meeting our stretch goals, every version of the comic will now include four pages of the Necronomicon and a new back cover drawn by Dan, four pages of "Strange Lovecraft Facts & Insane Trivia" illustrated by Ryan Dunlavey and four additional pages of Dan's concept art. The digital version of the script will now include Craig's scripts and Dan's layouts for the issue. And everyone getting the print version of the comic will also receive a tentacle sticker.

A sample page from Lovecraft

A page torn from the Necronomicon

A sample page from Lovecraft

The Team

We've got a great, experienced team working to bring Lovecraft to life:

Craig Engler, Writer - Craig has written several films including Zombie Apocalypse starring Ving Rhames. He also co-created the new TV show Z Nation, which currently airs Friday nights on Syfy, and has written for The New York Times, Wired and many other publications.

Daniel Govar, Pencils & Inks - Dan has done work for both Marvel and DC and most recently worked on the comic book adaptation of NBC's hit show Grimm for Dynamite.

Mat Lopes, Colorist - Mat has colored projects for many of the major comics companies including Dark Horse, Image, Dynamite and IDW.

Lewis LaRosa, Cover Artist - Lewis is a highly sought after cover artist and is currently under an exclusive contract with Valiant Comics (we got special permission for him to do our cover).

1 of 6 original Lovecraft pin ups that will be featured in the book (this one is by Brian Hurtt)

1 of 6 original Lovecraft pin ups that will be featured in the book (this one is by Lukas Ketner)

Characters

Lovecraft is the most powerful magician and occultist in the world. Heʼs also a misanthrope whoʼs determined to save humanity despite itself. Not because he especially values human life but because if humans manage to kill themselves, theyʼll take him with them. Heʼs also not immune to the corrupting influences of the occult. While he thinks of himself as a guardian of magick and mankind, many worry heʼs the real danger.

Lovecraft Character Sketch

John Dee was a legendary mathematician, astrologer and occultist in the 1600s. In real life he spent years trying to commune with angels so he could divine the universal language of creation. In our story Dee has been resurrected by modern-day occultists who are after his long-forgotten secrets. Dee covets Lovecraft’s library and wants to perform the “Ab Aeterno” ritual in the Necronomicon that will summon the Old Ones.

Jack Crowley is the great-grandson of the infamous real-life occultist Aleister Crowley. In terms of natural ability and talent, Jack could well be the most powerful magician in the world ... if he wasnʼt such a cowardly fuck-up. The only reason he isnʼt dead is because of his sister, Jane, whose lesser magickal ability is offset by being smart and cunning enough to keep them both alive.

Jane Crowley is the great-granddaughter of Aleister and twin sister to Jack. Jane is the brains to Jack’s magickal brawn and the one who keeps them alive. But even though she’s better and smarter than Jack in every other way, she resents the fact that he’ll always be a more powerful magician than her. This drives everything she does, leading her to both save Jack from harm while also finding ways to keep his power in check.

Jane Crowley Character Sketch

Nyarlathotep, or Nya for short, is the human embodiment of the vast and unknowable gods in the Lovecraft Mythos. He’s called the Crawling Chaos and true to form, whenever he appears disorder and confusion arise. However, he’s neither good or evil, at least as we understand it. He’s just as likely to seemingly help our characters as harm them. In appearance his features are those of an Egyptian Pharaoh, but his skin is the color of obsidian. And, oh yeah, HE HAS NO EYES.

Where the Money Goes

The funds pledged will primarily be used to cover our printing and shipping costs, as well as some of the artist fees. We'll still be going out of pocket on the project, but your pledges will ensure we're able to put out the biggest and best first issue possible so YOU get the best rewards possible.

Concept Sketches For Lovecraft's Monster-Fighting Tools

Risks and challenges

The typical challenges faced by a project like this are 1) Making It 2) Delivering It and 3) Eternal Madness. Here's how I'm tackling all three:

Making It - I've done my homework on how to make comics and talked to top comics creators who've used Kickstarter, and I'm confident that from inception to production to shipping there will be no significant issues that will prevent this project from getting made. I have an amazing team of experts working on Lovecraft both in front of and behind the scenes, and all of their experience will ensure this project gets completed.

Delivering It - I've done a project on another site that's experienced delays and the good news is, I've learned how to overcome them. The biggest challenge on that project was writing my part of it (a 55,000 word book). For this project my script for Lovecraft is already done, so delivering it is just about me managing the remaining pieces the other expert team members are working on. They're experienced pros so we anticipate finishing and delivering on time.

Eternal Madness - I can't make any promises on this one. In fact, I may already be doomed to madness by daring to write about the indescribable eldritch horrors of H.P. Lovecraft in the first place. If insanity should occur, you can visit me in my cell at Arkham Sanitarium and I'll verbally recite the comic to you (assuming I'm still capable of human speech).

Support

Select this reward

Pledge $5 or more
About $5

A PAGE OF THE NECRONOMICON -
You’ll receive a page torn from the Necronomicon itself, mailed to you in the form of a postcard. You’ll also get our eternal thanks, symbolized by your name appearing in blood in the back of the book. (Note: For legal reasons, red ink may be substituted for blood.)

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $10 or more
About $10

DIGITAL INSANITY - You’ll get all 48 pages of Lovecraft: The Blasphemously Large First Issue delivered to your inbox in PDF format and you'll also get a redemption code to download the issue for free on comiXology. Plus you'll get the page from the Necronomicon mailed to you and your name in blood in the back of the book.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $15 or more
About $15

PRINT MADNESS - You’ll receive the tentacular print edition of Lovecraft: The Blasphemously Large First Issue mailed to your home. Plus you'll get everything in the Digital Insanity package including the digital version of the book, a page from the Necronomicon mailed to you and your name in blood inside.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $25 or more
About $25

SIGNED LIMITED EDITION FOIL COVER -
You’ll receive a limited-edition GREEN FOIL VARIANT COVER copy of Lovecraft: The Blasphemously Large First Issue being printed EXCLUSIVELY FOR THIS KICKSTARTER and signed by Craig. Plus you’ll get the Digital Insanity package including the digital version of the book, the page from Necronomicon and your name in blood inside.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $35 or more
About $35

EARLY BIRD SPECIAL - You'll pay $5 less for being one of the first 25 people to order the TOTAL MADNESS package. You’ll get BOTH a signed, limited edition foil cover copy of Lovecraft: The Blasphemously Large First Issue AND the Print Madness edition, along with the Digital Insanity package including the digital version of the book, a page from the Necronomicon mailed to you and your name in blood inside.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $40 or more
About $40

TOTAL MADNESS PACKAGE - You’ll receive BOTH a signed, limited edition foil cover print copy of Lovecraft: The Blasphemously Large First Issue AND the Print Madness edition mailed to you. Plus you’ll get the Digital Insanity package including the digital version of the book, a page from the Necronomicon mailed to you and your name in blood inside.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $125 or more
About $125

YOUR NAME IN THE STORY - Your name will appear in the story of the first issue, attached to someone or something that dies horribly. (This is a Lovecraft tale after all!) Plus you'll get everything in the TOTAL MADNESS PACKAGE.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $250 or more
About $250

THE ARTIST’S PACKAGE -
For this pledge, Dan will look over your portfolio and critique your work. This can be done in person at a convention that Dan is attending or by phone or Skype. You’ll also get everything in the TOTAL MADNESS PACKAGE.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $250 or more
About $250

THE WRITER’S PACKAGE -
For this pledge, Craig will read your comic script or pitch and critique your work. This can be done in person at a convention that Craig is attending or by phone or Skype. You’ll also get everything in the TOTAL MADNESS PACKAGE.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $250 or more
About $250

A PAGE OF ORIGINAL LOVECRAFT ART - For this pledge you'll receive an ORIGINAL page of Daniel Govar's art from the comic. There are only 32 of these and you'll be able to choose them on a first come, first served basis, so pledge now if you want one. This reward also includes everything in the TOTAL MADNESS reward tier.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $400 or more
About $400

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER CREDIT - Only one lucky cultist will receive this exclusive “Executive Producer” credit on the inside cover of the comic (next to the Writer and Artist credits). And you'll be involved in the making of the issue itself, giving script notes, seeing proofs and more. Plus you’ll get everything in the TOTAL MADNESS PACKAGE.